Happy Birthday Chad!

Chad saw all the fun that his kids got to have on their birthdays and he did not want to be left out.
So, we made sure he got to have lots of the same fun.
We had lots of little kids help him open his presents.
Cole and Emily picked out their very own presents for him. Cole got him some root beer (since he loves to share root beer with his Dad.)
Emily loves to eat "my daddy's Oreos". So she got him some that she could eat also! (I'm not sure if these were sweet gifts because they reminded them of their Dad or if they were selfish gifts that they wanted to enjoy themselves! We'll pretend they were sweet!)
We made sure he got to have a birthday party with family (and some friends as well)!
And of course, we made sure that he had his own very special birthday cake (in vintage BYU blue)!
Kira really enjoyed the cake, if you can't tell!
And no family function would be complete without a giant wrestling match!
To My Wonderful Husband:
Thanks so much for being a great husband and father. We appreciate all that you do for us. We love you so much!

Addy's First Day at the Park

Here are a few pictures from Addy's day at the park.
Addy and her friend Lexi. Don't they look stylish in their hats?
Addy remembering that she doesn't like hats!
Addy really likes to swing. She can swing on our swingset at home for a long time without getting fussy. While we were at the park, I put her in the swing and would push her as I was doing stuff with Cole and Emily as well. So, I was right there, but she wasn't fussing, so I wasn't really paying close attention to her. Well, I finally looked closely at her and this is what I saw.
I was pretty sure she was asleep, but I got closer just to be sure.
She was so tired, I was even able to transfer her to the stroller, which I'm never successful at.
I guess she needs to build up a little more stamina for all the fun we have at the park! But isn't she cute?!?!

The Things Kids Say...Church Edition

While we are in between birthdays, I thought I would catch up on a few older things that have happened, including the funny things that kids say.
A while back we were going to the open house for the Draper Temple. It was a great experience and the kids loved it. Now, they love to look for the various temples that we can see while driving around in Utah. Anyway, as we were getting close to the temple, Cole yelled out that he could see it. I asked him how he knew it was the temple and he said, "I can see the angel 'Ramoni' on the 'staple'". (Instead of "Moroni on the steeple". Close enough though, right!)
The church building we go to right now has 4 wards in it. So when one of our kids acts up during Sacrament Meeting, it is hard to find some place to take them where it is quiet to put them on time out. I was telling this to one of my friends and she told me that they use the janitor's closet (which is bigger than any closet we have!). So when Emily got in trouble a few weeks ago, I decided to try it out. Well we get in there and there is an open part and also a caged in part. Emily took one look at the caged part and looked up at me with big, scared eyes and said, "Are you going to put me in there?" (I hadn't thought of that, but a jail like that might be useful sometime!!) It was hard to look stern and not laugh after that!
The other night we were having family home evening. We were doing an activity out of the Friend, but also asking questions to go with it. After about the 3rd question we asked Emily, it dawned on me that she has been well trained. She's still in nursery and she already has her own little "church" answers down. It didn't matter what the question was, as soon as we asked her a question, she would answer, "Jesus." If we said no, then she would say, "President Monson." If we said try again to that one, she would say, "Joseph Smith." Oh well, at least she knows 3 things!!
I love my kids. They make me laugh every day!

Lessons Learned from a PInata

So this is the second time we have tried to do a pinata for a birthday party. Both times, the kids have loved them, but I'm not so sure it is worth it. So far, we have learned the following things:

1. Chad and I are not smart enough to figure out how to hang them up. It has taken us far too long both times to get the silly thing hung up.

2. Cheap pinatas from the grocery store fall apart too easily.
For the cheap, grocery store, Dora pinata, the hook fell off, then the head, then the arms and legs, all before the body broke open for the candy to come out.

3. Expensive pinatas from the Mexican store do not break easily enough.
Chad had to use a metal bat to swing at the Mexican store pinata. And even then, it took several good swings for him to break it open.

4. Do not do pinatas at the park. If you do, random kids will come and join in!
When we started the pinata, one girl we didn't know came up and tried to get in line to hit the pinata. By the time we managed to get the candy to come out, the strange children had multiplied! (They tried to stick around for the cupcakes, but Chad told them we didn't have enough. So then, they would try and send various other kids to ask for cupcakes, including the little ones from our party who would come over and say, "that girl wants a cupcake.") It was pretty humorous.

Party Time

For Emily's birthday "party", she insisted that she wanted two particular friends to come. One of them was the little girl next door, which was no problem. The other little girl is in her nursery class and I didn't even know she knew her name. But apparently, they are good friends. Since the little girl didn't know me, I wasn't sure if she would actually come to a party without her parents. So, we decided to do a family party at the park.
I think everyone had lots of fun. What's there not to like?
Toys (and big kids to play with you!)
Food
Friends
Presents

And a pinata!
Which means lots of candy!!What a Party!!

Happy Birthday, Take 2!

The end of April and May are our busy birthday months! The latest was Emily, who had to share her birthday with Mother's Day. I'm pretty sure she wasn't deprived though.
Her birthday present from Grandma came in the mail on Friday. So as soon as her Dad got home from work, she talked us into letting her open it. A little girls dream, princesses, art supplies, and Tinkerbell! She then played with that for the next 2 days until it was her actual birthday.
On her birthday, we went to Salt Lake for family stuff. There she was wished Happy Birthday by more people than she wanted! This was her expression after about the 10th person!
While we were there, we also sang Happy Birthday and had her birthday cake. Clearly, I need to take a food coloring class because this did not turn out the colors I intended!
When we got home, her friend (and her brother) from next door were outside with their Dad and they managed to talk their Dad into coming and watching Emily open her presents. She always likes an audience!!
Yes, Emily got her very own Wii controller so she could finally play with her Dad and brother. (Funny though, I'm pretty sure they will come up with some other reason why she can't play with them!)
A brand new BYU shirt. I wonder who that was from! (Of course, Chad wanted to get her a blue one and she kept telling him that she wanted pink. Guess who won!!)
And of course, at this age, quantity is much more important than quality!!
Happy Birthday Emily! We love you!

Bring on the Big Kid Food Now!

In the busyness of our lives, I think I have failed to mention that Addy got teeth! Two cute little ones on the bottom. (Or not so cute when she uses them to bite you!)
Now that Addy has teeth, she isn't so fond of the baby food that her mom forces on her. She much prefers french fries or any food her brother and sister get to eat! (Although they are still very good about asking if she can have something before they feed it to her. Emily was totally amazed one day when I gave her a drink of my water! "She can drink water now? She is so big!")
She has found that guarding it with both hands is the most effective way of preventing me from seeing what she is eating, whether it be food, or wood chips at the park, or dirt, or flowers, or paper. (Those are the only things that I know of so far because I have had to fish them out of her mouth. I'm pretty sure I have missed a few things.)Isn't she cute!
A little story that I found kind of funny/cute. Addy and Cole liked to play a game where Cole would put his face close to Addy's face and she would pull his head down so she could "eat" his nose. A fun game for a baby with no teeth and her big brother. However, shortly after Addy's teeth popped out, I was watching the two of them play this game. But this time, when she went to get his nose, she actually chomped down on it with her teeth. I was trying so hard not to laugh as I was watching Cole's eyes fill up with tears, but him fighting back crying. I'm not sure if he didn't want to scare Addy or make her sad or what, but his reaction was so funny. I haven't noticed them playing that game anymore!